Corby Town continued their recent run of good results with a 2-1 victory over Carlton Town at Steel Park. That made it six games without defeat and since the turn of the year only three losses - all against teams currently in the top four - in twelve games. A far cry indeed from the dark day of the Christmas fixture away to Daventry Town when the calls for the head of manager Gary Mills reached a crescendo.
For the second home game in a row the Steelmen took an early lead. In the fifth minute a Connor Furey corner from the left was missed by visiting goalkeeper Shaun Rowley and Lewis White was left with the simple task of heading in from close range.
At the other end former Steelman Tyler Blake had an overhead kick blocked by a team mate and Corby 'keeper Ben Heath made an outstanding save from a Tyler Johal header.
Kelvin Taylor had been ill during the week and as half time approached it became clear that he was going to have to be replaced. Fortunately the one experienced player on the bench was Curtis Hartley so Corby were able to make a straight defensive swap.
Carlton brought on all three substitutes during the second half but although they applied plenty of attacking pressure they rarely threatened the Corby goal. Apart, that is, from the 54th minute when Martin Ball flicked on a long throw at the near post and in attempting to hook the ball off the line Elliot Sandy only succeeded in helping it into the net.
In an effort to win the game Gary Mills made the bold move to push White up front and his strong running and physical presence clearly made a difference.
Only a last ditch intervention by Dan Brown prevented him from ending one run with a shot at goal and from another he set up James Clifton for a header which was saved byl Rowley.
White also got involved in a clash with Ball which resulted in both players being shown yellow cards - the significance of which would become clear later on.
The Steelmen had one confident penalty appeal waved away by referee Mr Gareth Davis but when White was pulled down inside the box the Loughborough official had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Having cleared his head from a nasty bang he had received earlier in the game top scorer Jordan O'Brien stepped up to confidently restore Corby's lead.
A few minutes later, however, Mr Davis was again pointing to the penalty spot - this time in Carlton's favour. With regular spot kick man Tom Maddison missing from the line up Alex Howes took on the responsibility but Heath saved his effort and Hartley and White combined to complete the clearance.
Howes then headed narrowly over the bar and goalkeeper Rowley came up for a couple of late corners without unduly worrying the home defence.
With the final seconds ticking by Corby attempted to run down the clock by the corner flag. But when White lost possession to Nat Watson he prevented the Carlton man from taking a quick free kick. Mr Davis deemed this indiscretion worthy of a second yellow card which was quickly followed by the inevitable red.

CORBY TOWN:- Ben Heath; Ben Garwood, Kamy Apindia Gille; Joe Curtis, Lewis White, Elliot Sandy (captain); Connor Furey, James Clifton, Jordan O'Brien, Oli Gee, Kalvin Taylor (substitute Curtis Hartley). unused substitutes: Lewis Kennedy, Jack Kuspert, Jamie Newell-Hollely.

CARLTON TOWN:- Shaun Rowley; Lawrence Gorman, Tyler Johal (substitute Louis Czerwak); Dan Brown, Toby Moore, Martin Ball (captain); Nat Watson, Ryan Tait (substitute Daniel Flint), Aaron Opoku, Tyler Blake (substitute Daryll Thomas), Alex Howes.

REFEREE:- Mr Gareth Davis (Loughborough).

ATTENDANCE:- 473.